"Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: 'It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.' 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality [porneia], each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." 1 Corinthians 7:1-5

Corinth was a sexually idolatrous and immoral culture, much like the USA. Paul notes the strong temptation for sexual immorality, a temptation that is easily understood because we were created as sexual beings. We are prone to distort and misuse what God has created for His glory.

]]>ppl@ppl.org (Jonathan Shirk)SexualityMon, 30 Sep 2013 15:32:43 +0000Why Premarital Sex Can Kill Your Joyhttp://ppl.org/index.php/publications/sexuality/402-why-premarital-sex-can-kill-your-joy
http://ppl.org/index.php/publications/sexuality/402-why-premarital-sex-can-kill-your-joyYears ago when I was in high school I had a conversation with one of my good friends. If my memory serves me correctly, my Christian friend was saying the Bible never said you could not have sex before you were married. Was he right?

At the time I did not have the Biblical wisdom or knowledge to discuss it thoroughly with him. My friend was a good thinker, and I assume, because of his faith in Christ, that he believed premarital sex was sinful, yet was wrestling with whether the Bible actually directly addressed the issue.

AIDs, other sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, and teen pregnancy are not the greatest dangers facing our youth in this wicked day; the dangers to their souls posed by the unbridled lust with which they are surrounded, and the powers of darkness which would seduce them to squander the precious days of their lives dwarf merely physical hazards.

If a materialist were given the job of drafting a sex education curriculum for youth, we'd expect it to be focused almost exclusively on what we might refer to as "questions of plumbing": that is, teaching the plumber's apprentice the names of his tools, where they're to be kept, and how to use them to keep the pipes from leaking.

Christian sex education must be more than a course in anatomy

Clearly the physiology and anatomy of sex have their place in the raising and training of our youth, and it's commendable to seek to carry out such training within the context of the Christian community. But Christian adults teaching sex to the youth of the Church have a much greater obligation than to caution youth to avoid unprotected sex or to call them to exercise that nebulous aptitude we so commonly hear of (and so rarely run into): "responsible decision making."

Today, Christian sex education - - if the Church is to teach it with the mind of Christ rather that the mold of the world - - must be taught within the context of these words of Jesus:

"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." (Luke 12: 4,5).

Sex education programs should warn our children

Any Christian sex education worthy of its name will warn our sons and daughters that if they end up eternally separated from God in hell the chances are very good, today, that their sexual sins will have had a major part in leading them down that broad and traffic-jammed freeway.

So those of us who write Christian sex education curricula, and those who evaluate such curricula, and those who teach sex education to Christian youth must remember that this is an awesome responsibility. One day we will give an accounting to God for "every idle word" we have spoken as we've taught these precious little ones whose "angels are always beholding the face of their Heavenly Father." And on that day His question to us will be, "Have you taught them to choose the path of Christian purity?" "Have you taught them to 'flee sexual immorality' because their bodies are 'the temple of the Holy Spirit'?" To spend our time speaking of bodily diseases and processes and neglect the commands of God in this intimately beautiful part of human life is an error of the very worst sort.

As we consider how we will respond to the forthcoming sex education curriculum of the Presbyterian Church (USA) let us remember these sobering words of our Lord:

"But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!" (Matthew 18: 6,7)